Unit History: DMED Ludgershall

The unit responsible for supplying all three Services with medical stores and equipment was the Defence Medical Equipment Depot (DMED) at Ludgershall. DMED purchased the stores required for the medical units that supported UK forces in Saudi Arabia, including vaccines against biological warfare agents .

Within the UK, DMED Ludgershall issued stores to medical units using area distribution points around the country. This was used for the issue of the anti-BW vaccines. From there, they were collected by the unit to whom they were consigned. Within the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) in 1990 there was a unit called DMED BAOR, since closed, also known as DMED Bielefeld, to whom DMED Ludgershall issued medical stores for onward distribution to units. This system was used for units whose personnel were vaccinated in Germany. The FFT identified some of the issue vouchers from DMED Ludgershall to DMED BAOR for anti-BW vaccines, but found no paperwork generated by DMED BAOR. This was not surprising as in accordance with established MOD stores accounting procedures these records would have been destroyed two years after creation.